Eklund Garden

Welcome

The Eklund Wildflower Garden is located at 10 Oak Valley Road, near Hope Lake
in Shelton, Connecticut, on the site of a former upscale log cabin built in the
1930's (CLICK for directions). The
cabin, pool, and other buildings are gone, but the garden beds and stone work
remain. The garden is stocked with perennials native to
the greater Northeast. The garden is located in the heart of the 500-acre
Shelton Lakes Greenway and is accessible by car as well as by hiking or biking
the extensive trail network

Please don't take plants from the wild. Many native species can be purchased
by local nurseries.

A Wildflower Refuge

Many of our native woodland species were lost during colonial times, when
nearly the entire state was clear-cut and farmed. As farmland
was abandoned over the past century and fields have reverted to woodlands,
some plant species, such as pink lady slipper and red trillium, have
returned.

While new subdivisions and roads have certainly impacted our
native flora, a much greater threat is the growing deer population.
In nearby communities such as Ridgefield and Redding where the deer
population has swelled to unsustainable levels, the deer have
stripped the forests of nearly all vegetation except for a few
invasive species.

Unless population control measures are taken, the deer population
can be expected to rise in Shelton. Eklund Garden and the
area immediately surrounding it will be protected by deer fencing,
safeguarding an island of biodiversity that can serve as a seed
reservoir if the deer population is reduced.

What is Native?

Eklund Garden is stocked with plants that are native to the greater northeastern United
States, with an emphasis on plants that are thought to be native to
Connecticut. Natural ranges for a particular plant species are not always
well-known due to poor records, and various botanical resources may conflict
with each other. We do our best.

Due to climate changes, plants that once survived in Connecticut at
the southern edge of their range may now find the climate too hot
and dry, and plants that once grew only as far north as New Jersey
or Pennsylvania may now find Connecticut to be within their new
"natural" range. Our plantings reflect the
realities of a warmer, dryer climate than what colonists found
several hundred years ago.

We also focus on plants that are native to the acidic Oak-Hickory
forest that surrounds Eklund Garden. We do
also have a 'marble bed' for plants native to the marble valleys of
Connecticut's northwest corner.